Entertainment & Media

A few months ago, the American organization GLAAD released a report on the representation of the LGBTQ community on american TV channels. After two years of investigation, this is the turn of the BBC to publish its report on the perception in the media of lesbian, gay and bisexual people by the audience and some experts.

The number one question I am asked by other trans* individuals is: “Do you know of any uplifting media centered on trans* characters?” So what do we have in the way of stories to support us and to help us through those bad days?

Social networking and the internet have become such important parts of life, especially for those of the LGBTQ* community because sometimes we cannot feel comfortable within our own schools or families. We need support from somewhere. From Facebook to Twitter to Tumblr to YouTube, different sites allow people to communicate with others with the same interests or identities. It helps us to feel less alone, more involved and connected, to know there are people going through the same things, people who will listen and tell their own stories, giving us something to grasp onto when we feel hopeless. On YouTube, many different channels and projects have popped up to tie us more closely together and help us to feel like we aren’t alone.

Many people consider gender to be binary, to have only the two distinct categories of male and female, but gender is a continuum. An individual can rest anywhere along that spectrum, anywhere between male or female or even completely different from both of those classifications. However a person wants to identify is valid. No matter how far outside the constructed norms, we must respect people and their identities. Sometimes the trans* community prescribes rigidly to this binary and discounts others who identify as trans* because they do not fall directly into male or female. Over the past few months, to try to create awareness of this discrimination within the community, many “Not Trans Enough” videos have been popping up on YouTube.

Kate Clinton is an award-winning politician humorist, a stand-up comedian for thirty years, she travels through the theaters and you will be able to discover her new show 2012 All Fracked Up Tour.

She is a talented writer too. Her latest book, I Told You So, is described as a hilarious, bittersweet, politically acute survival guide.

Kate is also a political activist attending LGBT events always ready to militate for the community or writing articles published on internet. In this interview, Kate shares her point of view over this year of elections but also on women visibility in the media.